Monday, December 31, 2012

Modi's victory and future of Indian politics:

So people of Gujarat will continue to enjoy the luxury suite of "development train" for another 5 years at least, or rather, even more barring any miracle. First, a glimpse of what they have been enjoying during the past decade would give us a picture of what is going to come during the coming years in Gujarat and across India,

-- While all India reduction in poverty between '93 and 2005 is 8.5%, in Gujarat it is a mere 2.8%

-- Narmada dam project, 49 years since it was started and despite having spent Rs. 29,000 crores on it, have completed only 29% of the work

-- In 1999, 4743 of Gujarat's villages were without drinking water, within two years that figure had gone up to 11,390 villages(right now, it is even worse)

-- State debt in 2001 was 14,000 Cr. Now it stands at 105,000 Cr.

-- During Modi's era, over 75000 small and medium businesses have shut down rendering one million more people jobless in the same period(easily overriding any perceivable "job surge" brought by the FDI and “big business” influx)

-- Gujarat is not even in the top 10 states of India in the Human Development Index ranking

-- In all the statistics on health parameters, Gujarat continues to be at the lowest strata in India and in many cases things have worsened during Modi's period. Just to site an example, according to National Family Health survey, during Modi's second term, Anaemia and Malnutrition have increased by a whopping 60%

-- Human right records show a pathetic figure with National Human Right's Commission (NHRC) receiving 3rd most number of cases for alleged human right violations from Gujarat. Thus easily surpassing even Bihar, which is notoriously known for lawlessness and human right violations.

So, How come an administration with such an abysmal record on virtually every element of administration and governance from public health to human rights and poverty reduction to drinking water supply have managed to win successfully for the third term ?

That is the post-globalization "development politics" and the fate of poor Indians for decades to come...

A "development" terribly skewed and biased towards the elite urban class which have helped Modi to secure what others in BJP could not do with conventional blend of Hindutwa and crass politics. It is the politics where there is no real or perceivable difference between any players in the game. Hence you see three Parivar stalwarts of strikingly similar track record and ideological background namely Modi, Vagela and Keshubhai Patel leading all the competing political outfits of the state. Thus you get an opposition packed with discarded or vestigial junks from the ruling camp "fighting" them. Gujarat is just the beginning. We can expect similar games in many more states in the coming months and years. A politics similar in style and modus-operandi to that of US where democrats and republicans swapping the seats without any effect on the majority of the public in any way. The interests of the mega corporations and elite remains protected by the system well. An administration that will give them tax exemption, easy access to agricultural land, keeping away with even the most basic labor laws and whatever else they want.

Sad that all the efforts of great people like Sreekumar, Sanjeev Bhat, Mallika Sarabhai are being wasted in such a pathetic manner. Or rather they are systematically defeated by the ruling elite.....